Kusadasi (coo sha daa see) is now the port city for this
area of Turkey. They have improved the
port to encourage tourism and cruise ships to visit Ephesus. The tour guide was very friendly, said that he
was a Roman History teacher for high school aged students, and had three daughters. The country is about 98% Muslim, and he said
that he was in the minority as a Christian.
He carried “worry beads” that are supposed to relieve stress and calm
you down. They were always in his hand.
The ruins at Ephesus are at about a 15% renovations, so this
site will improve with time as more and more buildings are uncovered. It used to be the port, but the entrance has
been filled with silt over the decades and it is now 5 miles from the sea.
Two well preserved and interesting statues found at Ephesus
are in the small museum in the town. This little museum is well done and I took
a lot of photos so I will write more about this in a later post.
We also stopped at a rug making school. The girl is demonstrating how silk is removed
from cocoons. She gets four or five pods
unraveled, then hooks them to a spinner that combines the individual threads
into a thicker one which is then put on a spinning wheel.
The presenter at the rug school, aka rug shop, was
explaining/justifying the cost of the rugs based upon the materials used (wool,
cotton, silk) and the number of knots per square inch. The size of the rug is also to be taken in to
consideration. We were told that the
first quality rugs were kept here so that we are getting a chance to buy the
best. I’m not in the process in my home
renewal to be able to select rugs. The 3’x4’
ones were about $400, shipping was included. (We had 15-20 minutes to tour at each site and an hour at the rug store. Our group revolted, and we ended up on the bus and leaving 20 minutes early!!)
The last photo shows some seaside condos with the Crown
Princess in the background. (later)
1 comment:
Interesting comment on the touring to shopping time ratio. Glad your group stood up to it.
Enjoyed the photos and can't wait for the expanded version.
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